African Exodus: Migration and the Future of Europe

by Asfa-Wossen Asserate, David Goodhart (Foreword), Peter Lewis (Translator)

In 2015, an unprecedented number of people from Africa and the Near East took flight and sought refuge in Europe. By the end of that year, some 1.8 million migrants had arrived in the EU, the vast majority having come across the Mediterranean. Since then, despite measures to host some of the people fleeing the Syrian war in Turkey and concurrent attempts to physically seal off some borders in Eastern Europe, the numbers of refugees traveling to Europe has continued to top half a million annually.  A mass migration on a scale not witnessed in modern times is underway, and it has presented Europe with its greatest challenge of the twenty-first century.



Asfa-Wossen Asserate argues here that building higher fences or finding more effective methods of integration will only, in the long term, perpetuate rather than solve the problems associated with these large numbers of displaced refugees. We need to realize that we are only treating the symptoms of an oncoming catastrophe and that, if we are to respond to mass migration, we will ultimately have to understand its causes. African Exodus places its emphasis firmly on the causes of the refugee crisis, which are to be found not least in Europe itself, and charts ways in which we might deal with it effectively in the long term.



In the course of this analysis, Asserate asks why our view of Africa—a troubled continent, but rich in so many ways—is so distorted. How can we combat the corrupt, authoritarian regimes that stymie progress and development? Why are millions fleeing to Europe? How is the EU complicit in the migration crisis? And finally, in practical terms: what can be done, and what prospects does the future hold?

 

Genres: Nonfiction

217 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 15, 2018

Reviews

[Pedro Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting factual overview, with some good insights about how different regimes and respective "governments" fall prey to the constant resource pilling, that benefits both the buyers, and the ruling class, while leaving the majority of the population empty handed. Good lack of bias, in a way that attributes the fault to both the pillagers and the ruling classes, and therefore highlighting that the change must come from both within and outside. Good view on the current status of financial help: by not being indexed to any tangible political and development goals, is used to perpetuate the current inequalitarian system, financing secret polices and enhancing the climate of fear and pursuit.
Very good for an introductory overview of the exodus problem, but for a deeper analysis might be insufficient.

[Christian Cederberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written book about the plight of Africa.
As an European I recognize that part of the problem lies in Europe, but I feel that far more blame should be placed upon the African birthrate and their lousy governments.
Therefore the 3 stars.

[Jake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many in the Neo-Liberal development paradigm discuss democracy and good institutions as a chicken and an egg scenario. However, in the Western world the institutions that spawned free market ideas came out at the same time as colonialism, royalty and oppression. Democracy, good institutions and liberty are obviously important but the free market does not necessarily go alongside them. Asserate often prescribes the free market as being a way to stop migration to Europe, however he also points to some of the issues caused by globalised capitalism as being what is causing the migration. For example the EU pressuring countries to remove protection then dumping goods on them, or the failure of African countries to industrialise so have economies dependant on raw materials. Ins showing these contradictions Asserate is better than many other Neo-Liberal development writers but doesn't himself make the connections between the contradictions. He regularly says that Africa needs more free-market, but is also critical of certain things that could be described as 'free market', it seems to be a situation of free markets but not that type (there is nothing wrong with this in principle, but it makes for a weka argument and clumsy wording).

This book is largely not about migration, but about the political economy of Africa. In this sense the title is misleading, and I would probably have not read it if I had known as I am researching migration.

I wrote a much longer review but goodreads cut it off in one of it's many glitches. Long story short the book has an incomplete arguments and is not always particularly objective.

[Rob Potts · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The people who have taken on the huge risk of a perilous sea crossing still believe in Europe. But do Europeans themselves? Confronted by the refugees seeking to gain entry, will Europe abandon all the ideals and principles that make it what it is—its humanity, its shared values? In giving up on Africa, will Europe also give up on itself?"

This is a strange book—part history, part lecture, and perhaps part indictment. The title seems a bit of a misnomer, as really it discusses Africa's future, but it is a rewarding read nonetheless.

[Fay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't often read non-fiction for pleasure or edification ... but I enjoyed getting to a point where I better understood some of the long term issues involved in the challenge called Africa. From colonialization and all its tragic ramifications and consequences to the selfishness of Europe with its trade tariffs that make for a very unequal playing field... it is all sad.
One hopeful point was Tanzania with its current president who really has made inroads on the endemic corruption that plagues so many African countries.
A good read!

[Kamran Sehgal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was perturbed by the misleading title and cover. This book is primarily focused on detailing how Europe has colonised Africa and continues to halt economic reform with protectionist agricultural subsidies.